


Family Gathering

by TallowCat



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-22
Updated: 2016-10-22
Packaged: 2018-08-23 22:56:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8346025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TallowCat/pseuds/TallowCat
Summary: Brand’s family had always had the tradition of meeting up once every three months.It was just something they did.Ever since he could remember, since he was a young boy so small and naïve, they’d always taken time out of their day, only a single day, to meet up and talk about all that had happened in their lives.And just because he’d saved the world, moved and married off didn’t mean Brand was going to break that tradition.Even if it did mean he had to get up at hours that even the most annoying of lambs wouldn’t dare baa at.





	

Brand woke early in the morning.  
Much earlier then anyone may say is sane.  
Even for a farmer that was quite too early.

The sun had yet to even begin to peek over the world and the moon still shone well enough with the stars that most would consider it night, not even calling it the barest whisper of a morning.

And yet Brand was awake, quite unusual.

Brand, despite being a farmer who needed to wake early, wasn’t much for morning starts. He much more preferred sleep, curled in warmth before eventually getting to work, if quite lazily.

\--

For a moment, more then he would care to admit, he stared lazily, blurrily really, at the wall opposite the bed.  
Shadows danced like the blizzard of the kingdom on the mountains, changing and shifting with the moonlight and the wind that cackled and whined.

The warmth behind him made him not want to get up.  
With Joshua’s arm wrapped around his waist and nose nuzzled into his hair all those warm feelings doubled, like he would fall in love with that man again, and again…and again.  
Really, he hated to get up when everything was oh so perfect like this.

For a moment Brand just stared off at the shadows that lined his walls, trying to wake himself up a little more. He really didn’t have the time to dally like this all morning…  
So with a small whine he squirmed to roll over in Joshua’s hold, the prince making a small noise of his own and nuzzling closer, as if scared Brand had disappeared.  
Looking up at Joshua, as best he could anyway, Brand smiled and brought a hand to gently brush through the messy white locks Joshua bore.

Oh so soft and oh so perfect usually…  
Joshua could be the picture of perfection at times, Brand would admit. If only his attitude matched that. A right asshole if they were honest.  
He couldn’t help but place a small kiss on Joshua’s nose.

A small laugh at his own thoughts and Brand managed to wriggle from his husband’s gentle hold, giving an apologetic look at Joshua’s clearly uncomfortable sound. He stood and stretched.  
He shuddered in the cold air, really now…loose pants, and only loose pants, weren’t good attire for the cold winters…

When he’d finally gotten dressed, pulling the long sleeves up to his wrists in a way that made his small stature even more of an annoyance, Brand gave Joshua one last look.  
The elder man was still sleeping soundly, arms curled around the pillow Brand had been holding throughout his sleep. A small nod to himself and Brand swung his bag over his shoulder and pulled his collar a bit further up.

It was a cold night but if he wanted to meet his family on time, when the sun began to rise, he had tot leave then and there.  
He felt a bit bad, he concluded as he stepped out into the cold dark, bad about just leaving Joshua behind.

He’d bring him to meet his family soon…just not tonight.

\--

Brand’s family had always had the tradition of meeting up once every three months.  
It was just something they did.  
Ever since he could remember, since he was a young boy so small and naïve, they’d always taken time out of their day, only a single day, to meet up and talk about all that had happened in their lives.

And just because he’d saved the world, moved and married off didn’t mean Brand was going to break that tradition.

Even if it did mean he had to get up at hours that even the most annoying of lambs wouldn’t dare baa at.

\--

Cold.  
Very, very cold, Brand decided.  
Maybe he should have snatched Joshua’s coat instead of simply wearing what he did…

Oh well.

Nerne was always so very quiet at night, the only real things he picked up on his walk was the sound of sleeping animals, the wind and those chimes everyone seemed to adore so dearly. They were nice, he’d admit, and their tunes were often very soothing.  
He’d have to thank Iza for her gifting him one; he hadn’t been able to thank her…

As he walked the roads, mindful of sleeping animals that chose wherever they wished to rest, he couldn’t help but admire the gentle lights about.  
Some lanterns glowed along the streets in case someone happened to be wandering at night, and with the peaceful winds and the coolness of the much too early morning…

Well… Brand would say it was perfect.

House after house he passed, watching as curtains billowed and the small sounds of sleep came tumbling out.  
Nerne really was a place of home.

The further out he drew the more and more he began to warm. The strap on his bag rubbed his shoulder yet he couldn’t find much of a worry for it as he stood where he did.

On the outskirts of the main town, much further from his home, he stood and looked over the town, village really, that had been his home for twenty years. The soft lantern glows could still be seen and the grass below him rustled with both him and the wind.  
The slowly lessening dark made everything feel so unreal, houses parted near sporadically and the roads of dirt brought Brand back to his childhood.

Where he and his siblings would run down the roads, covered in dirt and jumping around the store signs. When they were older and ventured out at night to lie in the fields and gaze up at the stars, glowing bugs that he didn’t know the name of fluttering around.  
“Like stars…” His sister had murmured one night, watching the bugs rather then the stars themselves, “little stars that just…float about…”  
Indeed they were, at least when they were kids that’s what they seemed like. They’d said that they were stars that had fallen and were trying to fly back.

Thinking now anyone could see the childhood wonder in those words, their mother had when they’d caught some to show her.  
Of course they’d let them go but their mother had laughed and ruffled their hair, agreeing with them that they did indeed look like tiny stars unable to find a way home.

Tipping his gaze upward to the stars, the same ones he used to be so enraptured with as a child, Brand smiled. The cool wind whipped along his bare skin, making his cheeks sting at the cold.  
His gaze softened as he tried to make out a constellation or two, maybe he could try and recall one that they’d found or made as children.

Though he wasn’t sure he could remember so far back.

Eventually the stars reminded him he had a place to be, people to meet. In his mind he bid them farewell, despite knowing they would still be there forever always.  
After all… Their mother did teach them to always be polite and kind, to say goodbye when you left and to promise to meet again…

Ah…  
Why did that hurt oh so horribly…?

\--

Walk and walk, step after step…  
Wet grass folding beneath his boots as he walked through the fields he knew so well. No sheep here…nor cattle like there usually was. Maybe that was good, he wouldn’t accidentally cause them to ‘moo’ or ‘baa’ and wake others up.  
But in some ways it made him feel a little bit lonely. 

It felt like he’d been walking for hours, he knew that not to be true, he may not have been smart but he knew he time and numbers.  
Not far now, a few more fields to cross and he’d be there when the sun began to shine up the mornings.

Another field barren of animals, leaving him only to his thoughts of what he’d tell them all when he got there.  
Maybe of Joshua, Iza and Nika…  
Maybe he’d tell them of some of the cleanups around, how people were slowly rebuilding their homes.  
Mm… Brand knew his sister would like to hear that at least.  
Or possibly of the farm, how all the animals were growing well and how the crops grew too…  
Or…  
Or maybe he’d babble on as he seemed to do every other time. 

Flowers, ones that, for some reason, were still bright and bloomed stood near him. Again they made him pause, and he really didn’t have the time but he couldn’t help but want to watch them for a moment.  
Flowers meant many things, he knew that too, but he wasn’t much for them anymore. After all that had happened flowers just felt like a reminder of death/ A bright thing that could make ones heart sore simply made his heart drop and fall back into memories he though fit best with the back of nightmares. 

…

No time to dally…

\--

As he finally began to climb the final hill, where he knew they’d all be waiting, Brand grinned.  
Finally!

Rolling his shoulders with a laugh Brand dumped his bag to the ground; the clinks of the things inside didn’t bother him. Nothing would break so that was fine.

“See! The sun ain’t up so I ain’t late, can’t pick on me this time, brother!”  
Another laugh as Brand stood with his hands on his hips, looking proud as every at being able to debunk his brothers teasing.  
Sure he slept a lot but he wasn’t late!

Ah…the sun was starting to rise…starting to shine over the hill and the tree behind them.  
The ground soon covered with a light glow, everything brightening into a flourished world. The fields, even if barren, looked so beautiful and pure, inviting like they were part of some tale where humans had yet to find them.  
Wind taking leaves and flying them over…  
A world that he loved so dearly, with so many things he held close…

For a second he could only stare off into thee distance as the sun began to rise, as the world changed from oddly calm and cool to inviting and warm.  
Warm like family and warm hugs…  
Brand fiddled with the wedding ring on his finger for a moment, smile fading and his gaze never moving.

He was there on time…  
He was first to speak, of course.

Without looking back to his family Brand sat, the dampness of the grass something he didn’t mind. He would rather look over the lightening world then worry about a bit of wetness to his clothes and skin.

A small breath and his shoulders relaxed…  
“So…”  
It was slow, quiet, a whisper nearly.  
Slowly, everything always felt so slow here, the tears bubbled over and his throat clogged.

His shoulders shook and he forced himself to smile, trying to stutter the words out over the sobs and shakes.  
But that was okay…  
They would wait…  
They would listen…

For after all…

A set of graves could not talk.


End file.
